Ongoing and upcoming Art Nouveau exhibitions, visits and more...

This quote from the Norwegian artist Gerhard Munthe (1849–1929) refers to one of the main trends in European art from the mid-19th century through the early decades of the 20th century.

In 1853, Japan opened its borders to the outside world after 200 years of isolation. This lead to a cult of all things Japanese among European artists – a movement labelled as Japonism from the 1860s–70s onward. This Japanese-inspired art did not constitute a style as such, but greatly influenced a number of styles in European art. In the 1880s and 1890s, Japonism became a major ingredient of the Art Nouveau style. In Norway, Art Nouveau peaked in popularity in the years between 1890 and 1910.

This exhibition looks at the connections between the Art Nouveau style, the nation-building project in Norway, and the Japonism movement as expressed in Norwegian Art Nouveau. Starting with Gerhard Munthe, considered the leading proponent of Japonism in Norway, the exhibition highlights connections between Japonism and the distinct national character of Norwegian Art Nouveau in terms of technique, range of motifs, format, and choice of materials.

Venice

The Divine Marchesa - Art and life of Luisa Casati from the Belle Époque to the roaring twentiesDates:3.10.2014-8.3.2015

Venice evokes the figure of the woman and the myth that fascinated d'Annunzio and his follies became the muse of the greatest artists of the time as Boldini, Bakst, by Marinetti in Balla, from Man Ray to Alberto Martini, Van Dongen Romain and Brooks.

Palazzo Fortuny in Venice, one of the "places" most loved by the Divine Marchesa, will be the site of the first extraordinary exhibition dedicated to Luisa Casati Stampa, the woman who in the early twentieth century, with the exaggerated makeup, the transgressive and eccentric performance and life over the top, he was able to transform itself into a work of art, a living legend, disturbing and surprising representation of modernity and avant-garde.

The exhibition, conceived by Daniela Ferretti, edited by Fabio Benzi and Gioia Mori, is co-produced by the Civic Museums Foundation of Venice and 24 ORE Cultura - Gruppo 24 Ore, has over one hundred works, including paintings, drawings, jewelry, sculptures, photographs and clothes from private collections and international museums.

The extraordinary collection of art works and portraits that were devoted to her or commissioned pieces will be on display in the exhibition come from private collections, such as the head of polychrome ceramic work of Renato Bertelli, The Marchesa Casati Romain and Brooks and sculpture by Paolo Troubetzkoy portrait of the Marchesa Casati with a greyhound. He subsequently joined by masterpieces from museums around the world such as Portrait of the Marchesa Casati by Giovanni Boldini GNAM of Rome, Marchesa Casati by Augustus Edwin John the Art Gallery of Ontario, the many portraits which he dedicated Alberto Martini, Lines of force landscape maiolicato of Giacomo Balla and jewelry by Cartier inspired her.

To note is the many photographs of Luisa Casati Stampa: from the shots of Gayne Adolphe de Meyer, Man Ray and Mariano Fortuny, to those stolen, when he lived in poverty in London, Cecil Beaton.

The exhibition, through constant references, reconstructs the social and artistic life of the crossed Luisa Casati Stampa: the gilded cage of high society encounter with Gabriele d'Annunzio - that forever changed and became a bond of love and friendship that lasted a lifetime - from the extravagant costumes, the practice of the occult period to arrive at the "futurist" Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in which he meets and marries the cause of the artistic movement, promoting artists and collecting their works , ending with economic ruin and exile in the British capital where he died in July 1957.

Three floors of Palazzo Fortuny "immerse" the visitor into the atmosphere in which he lived the Divine Marchesa that, for half a century, he was a living legend, a dark lady, a major art collector and patron, muse of the Symbolists, the Fauves, Futurists and surrealists: a myth that still inspires artists today and the great house of haute couture.

Winter Park, Florida

Revival and Reform—Eclecticism in the 19th-Century EnvironmentDates:21.10.2014-21.10.2015

The Arts window by J. & R. Lamb Studios is the centerpiece of this major new exhibition that illustrates the rich diversity of styles that made up the aesthetic environment of the late 19th century in both Europe and America. Lamb Studios, a prominent American glasshouse of the era, exhibited the 1894 neoclassical window widely. In preparation for its debut at the Morse, the window, more than eight feet in diameter, underwent extensive conservation. The installation features 20 additional leaded-glass windows and selections of art glass, pottery, and furniture, a number of which also have never been exhibited. Other windows on view—some avant-garde, others reviving the past—include examples by Tiffany Studios, John LaFarge, Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward Burne-Jones, Donald MacDonald, and Heaton, Butler & Bayne.

Around 1900, writer Henri van Booven (1877-1964) befriended the artist Carel de Nerée tot Babberich (1880-1964). The latter worked in the style of Aubrey Beardsley, while Van Booven would become Louis Couperus' first biographer. He got to know the writer's work thanks to his friend De Nerée. The author introduced the artist to the work of Aubrey Beardsley. Both admired Louis Couperus, especially the novel Extasy (1892). For the first time in one hundred years a series of drawings which De Nerée made for this novel which will be on show together. The exhibition also features documents and books from Van Booven's private archive and library.

The exhbition is put together by Sander Bink, specialist on the Dutch Fin-de Siècle. To the occasion of this show the beautifully illustrated book Carel de Nerée tot Babberich en Henri van Booven. Den Haag in het fin de siècle will presented at the vernissage (published by WBOOKS, Apeldoorn, together with the Louis Couperus Museum).

This exhibition was made possible by financial contributions from Foundation Gifted Art and a sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous. The accompanying pubication was financed by the Foundation Harten Fonds and the M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Foundation.

Budapest

Lechner, A Creative GeniusDates:19.11.2014-31.5.2015

In 2014 the Museum commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Ödön Lechner (1845–1914), one of the greatest Hungarian architects and one of the original geniuses of the European architectural scene at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. To mark this anniversary, the Institute of Art History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest are jointly organizing an international conference and an exhibition.

This exhibition presents the whole scope of the work of the architect Ödön Lechner. Special attention is paid to five major works, nominated for UNESCO World Heritage Site status: the Kecskemét City Hall, the parish church of Budapest-Kőbánya, the Museum of Applied Arts, the Institute of Geology, and the Postal Savings Bank. Visitors can familiarise themselves with these through the architect’s original plans and drawings, as well as period and modern photographs. Working drawings of the ornaments so crucial to Lechner’s work, the publications which inspired him, and examples of the Zsolnay ceramic in which they were realized are also presented. One of the rooms evokes the world of the Japan Coffee House, Lechner’s second home, another acommodates a panoramic movie of his major works.

Curated by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, this major exhibition brings together rarely seen works by William Morris and Andy Warhol.

Love is Enough will examine the prolific careers of these two figures, each of whom developed an artistic practice and a conceptual framework that helped to define the centuries in which they lived. The exhibition draws together works from public and private collections across the UK and the USA. They include the epic and rarely seen Holy Grail tapestries completed by Morris in 1896, a selection of Warhol’s iconic silkscreens and archival material from the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, including a signed photograph of Shirley Temple posted to a thirteen-year old Andy from the actress in 1941.